We’re nearing the halfway mark of the local basketball season and decided to take a little peek at the progress of our coverage teams. Upcoming games listed are at home unless otherwise indicated.- N3 Sports Girls Newaygo 4-4, 1-3 8th place in CSAA Games this week: North Muskegon, Lakeview The Lions have yet to beat a team with a winning record. The rest of their schedule only lists one team currently having more W’s than L’s. Coach T’s team has struggled on offense, eclipsing the 40 point mark just once. The upside has been the defense most nights. The only teams to score more than 40 on the Lions were 2 of the region's top squads in Cedar and Morley. They are a gritty bunch who play hard despite the score. Holmes seems to be gaining confidence with each game and her ability to snare offensive boards has led to some crucial scoring for the team. Riddering and Lathrop generate a lot of energy, Schultz can provide a hot hand on occasion and Schillman has shown she can be an outside threat. This week: The Norse just beat a talented Holton team in OT and will be a tough test for the Lions. The Wildcats don’t score a lot either so it will depend if the Lion offense can get a spark. Grant 4-2, 3-0 and tied for 1st in CSAA Games this week: at Montague, at Fremont, at Tri County Three road games after not being on the court in nearly 4 weeks. Ashbaugh, Welch, Pleune and Rodriguez have been the most consistent players for Coach Delamater. Their 2 losses came against state ranked Spring Lake when the Tigers were missing some key players and Cedar Springs, a team that probably should be in the rankings. This week: Montague has only won 1 game so far but their schedule has been pretty tough and they are likely better than their record indicates. An old rivalry is rekindled with Fremont mid week and it should be a battle. TC is struggling and the Tiger speed will be a huge challenge for them. White Cloud 4-6, 1-2 7th place CSAA Games this week: at Hesperia, Chip Hills Another gritty team that struggles to score. In their last 8 games the team is averaging just under 20 a game. Coach Wilk’s squad hasn’t been at 100% for much of the season and are now getting healthy. The defense has been good but someone needs to come forward and start lighting it up. They have candidates such as Feldpausch, Holmes, Ringler, Gomez, the just returned Foondle and maybe others but they will need that game in, game out, scoring threat if they hope to have success going forward. With 2 very winnable games this week maybe that scorer will emerge. This week:. Hesperia scored 42 points in their first game win over Walkerville. Since then the Panthers have averaged just over 9 points a game. The Cloud follows that up with a Warrior team that can’t seem to stop teams from scoring giving up an average of 60 points their last 6 games. Fremont 6-2, 4-0 tied for 1st in WMC Lakes Games this week: at Mason County Central, Grant, Ravenna When N3 learned Coach Zerfas was coming back after a 2 year sabbatical we had to ask why. “Basically I missed it sitting up in the stands. Felt like I was just in the wrong part of the gym....not on the bench.” In his return to courtside Coach Z has done a nice job guiding the Packers to their best start in recent years. Their losses came in the Reed City Tourney final against CSAA conference rabbit Morley and in their season opener when they faced state ranked Spring Lake. Bennett is having a good year in the paint, DeKuiper seems to be everywhere, Clemence, Chase and many others can score, the defense has been solid and it’s a long bench. This week: The Pack hasn’t beaten a winning team yet. They get 2 shots at it this week. A rugged trio of games are on tap starting with a visit to state ranked MCC followed by a tough Tiger team coming to town. They also play Ravenna. The 3 wins by the Bulldogs were over teams with a combined 4-22 record. Holton 7-2, 2-2 4th in WMC Rivers Games this week: at Whitehall Tough overtime loss to conference rival North Muskegon last week. Coach Jordan has a team with varsity veterans and a lot of weapons. Cannady can find net with the best of them, we understand Bart is a threat beyond the arc and it seems we’ve been writing about the substantial skills of Fowler and Robins forever. This week:. A showdown with conference leading Hart was postponed and their meeting with the Vikings is their only game this week. Whitehall doesn’t score like the Devils can. If the RD shooters get hot early they’ll forget about last week’s loss quickly and start a new streak. Boys White Cloud 9-2, 2-1 Tied for 4th in CSAA Games this week: Chip Hills Coach Jones has a pretty solid bunch here. An early stumble in Shelby and a tough loss to Big Rapids are the only setbacks so far. The Robinsons, Reuther, Strait, Cruzan, Watson and a long bench of talent have come together well for the Cloud. They need to continue the improvement they have shown because they will finish their regular season with contests against a pair of state ranked teams, including current conference leader Reed City. This week: The Warriors don’t have the offensive firepower of the Cloud but it would be a mistake to underestimate them particularly if it’s close down the stretch. Fremont 5-6, 2-3 4th in WMC Lakes Games this week: at Whitehall, at Manistee After winning their opener in a walk, Coach Bowen’s team lost their next 6 games, the last an absolute blowout to St. Johns at the Reed City Holiday Tourney. To their credit they regrouped and beat Bellaire pretty handily in the consolation game. Since the calendar turned they have notched 3 more W’s and steadied the Packer ship. DeBlake, Miller, Mellema and Richards are the primary threats on offense. Defensively they have kept most teams within range. This week: Whitehall is ranked 3rd in the state for a lot of reasons, most prominent being the ability to score in a fast and furious manner. It’s not unusual to see them put up more than 70 and they hung 91 on OV last week. The Packers have yet to reach 70 in a game. Grant 5-3, 3-1 Tied for 2nd in CSAA Games this week: Baldwin, at Tri County The Tigers can put up points. Obenauf, Phillips, DeLong. Swanson and more can emerge as top scorer for Coach Schuitema’s squad and they play pretty good defense if we toss out a blowout in Ludington in the season opener. Thye loss to the Coyotes put a dent in their title aspirations but they remain a game back and waiting for a Reed City stumble. This week: Baldwin is a solid D4 team but Grant can run a lot of rotations out there and the Panthers would have to play their best to take down the Tigers on their home court. TC has lost 8 straight and while they are always tough at home they don’t match up well with Grant. Newaygo 6-4, 3-1 Tied for 2nd CSAA Games this week: at Ravenna, Lakeview The Lions are a bit enigmatic at times. Nelson, Long, Klomp, Kerr & Co. can look like a highlight reel at times but there are chunks of time when they seem a little out of sync. Coach Long’s team has yet to beat a team with a winning record and they’ve yielded over 70 points in their 4 losses. The next two games are winnable and important since next week they will be hosting 2 state ranked squads. This week: The Bulldog gym is a challenging place for visitors and the team is playing pretty good ball, coming into this one with 4 straight wins. On the other hand, unless Lakeview suits up a new student transfer who can knock down around 25 a game the Wildcats won’t be able to keep up with the Lion shooters.
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